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As the name implies, an advertorial is a cross between an advertisement and an editorial.

So why should you use this strategy in your sales process?

Some marketers claim that advertorials pull up to 5 times better than regular sales ads.

They say that the public is fed up with most regular advertisements penned by over-zealous copywriters that exaggerate claims and specialize in making products and services seem to be something way more than they really are.

It’s no secret that advertising for many years has followed a similar tactic: interrupting whatever the consumer is doing in order to shout out a sales message that no one really wants to hear at that time.

The advertorial is different.

It is displayed to those that have an interest in the particular niche market. So it is much more targeted than the typical broadcast ad.

It is presented, not in grandiose puffery, but something more akin to an endorsement from the editor of a niche magazine or trade journal.

The editor is seen as an expert in the niche and one that can be trusted to give an objective judgement of the product or service.

The advertorial is typically an educational marketing piece. It is often quite difficult, in fact, to recognize it as an advertisement.

The ad is often disguised as a news article that gives the reader the impression she is reading an authoritative “white paper” or other objective article that is not out to sell a product so much as it is meant to educate the consumer on a particular niche topic.

Advertorials are easy to create, but just as in regular advertising, the success of your advertorial will likely depend upon your skill at creating great headlines and writing compelling copy. In this respect, it is no different than any other sales copy content.

Here is what’s involved if you want to try your hand at creating an advertorial:

1. Choose a targeted niche newsletter, industry magazine, a rented niche list of email addresses, or maybe a “review” or directory type web site. Be sure that the audience this content is designed for is as targeted as possible – the more targeted, the better the ad will draw.

2. Create your headline and make it sound newsworthy. The success of this method will depend upon your copy sounding like a fresh news story or event that is being reported for the first time.

You want the copy to be compelling reading, yet you don’t want the ad to look like a standard display ad.

In order to make the headline effective, look at other headlines in the newsletter and make yours “fit in” with a similar style.

3. Begin the advertorial with a “newspaper looking” first line (include the city as the first element). Again, the basis of what you’re doing is acting as an editor that is presenting some news or insight on a very recent story.

Here is an expample: “Chicago – A recent university study documents that 84% of all small business owners have no formal education in business management.”

4. Point out the problem or the need that exists in the niche and why this problem can be satisfied with an easy and simple solution that has just been found. The copy must be believable and straightforward so that the reader is not associating this story with the typical hype and exaggeration that is usually found in a lot of online ads.

5. State what the solution is and how it solves the problem. This is not a difficult task if the solution to the problem is real and it works as promised. Don’t hype the product or paint the solution as a “miracle” fix … this needs to be believable and the reader needs to feel like he has discovered a solution that might actually work!

Explain that the solution is unique, one-of-a-kind, and available immediately. It is a solution that others in the same situation have used to overcome their similar challenge.

6. Provide supporting evidence like satisfied customer testimonials, clinical results, opinions and endorsements from experts and professionals, etc. Social proof is important in this type of marketing because it will validate your claims and make seem less likely to be hyped or fake. The customer will think to himself … “if others have had their problem solved with this product, then it might work for me too!”

If you can quote industry sources or professional research trials, that will add to the appearance of a bona fide news release.

7. Include your call to action, or the specific steps you want the reader to take (like registering for a site, clicking the “Buy Now” button, requesting additional information, filling out a form, etc.)

The key ingredient in an advertorial is giving great content that is very niche targeted and appears to be a scholarly or objective news item (like a press release.)

Because it educates and informs, and does so in a newspaper reporting kind of style, the ad really doesn’t seem to be intrusive or offensive in any way. It can be made to appear to be a product recommendation from a trusted authority figure in the niche.

Customers are much more apt to make a purchase based on such a recommendation.

The ways an autoresponder can be employed to automate your business tasks are many.

Here are just a few of the typical business uses of an autoresponder:

– if an email address is no longer valid, a message can be sent from the mail server that the email is now “undeliverable,”

– if the business changes its email address or URL, a new forwarding address can be sent to those that send mail to the old address,

– if you go on vacation or are otherwise unavailable for a time, your autoresponder can alert customers to your absence and when you’ll return,

– you can have an autoresponder confirm registrations at your site, sign-ups or requests for removals from your mailing list or your newsletter, or customer requests for web site help or support,

– you can have your autoresponder actually deliver your newsletter or “tip of the day” or other marketing message at a set time,

– you can have a direct sales letter sent to anyone that requests further information, or you can send out freebies, bonuses, or other incentives without you having to physically mail the items,

– autoresponders will collect names, email addresses, and other information from potential customers, confirm their information, and forward your pre-made message or “bonus for joining” without your intervention,

– autoresponders can even be your product delivery means if you sell a digital product (be sure you understand the security protocols of this strategy because it’s easy for a customer to share your product with others in most cases.)

Autoresponders (sometimes referred to as “sequential” autoresponders) can be set to do follow-up emailing so that your messages are delivered in order or sequence and on either specified dates or at specified intervals (like every 5th day).

Emails can be pre-formatted in either plain text or HTML and your autoresponder can “recognize” and deliver whichever form a particular email address can read.

Emails can have active links embedded so that in one simple click your reader can open up a window and be transferred to a particular web page.

The work involved (other than installing the software) in setting up your autoresponder is largely a matter of preparing and formatting your messages, in advance, as you want them to appear in the email.

Then you “load” the messages into the system and specify your preferences and the timing or sequence of delivery.

Make no mistake about it – there is a fair amount of work involved in writing and preparing your responses. But the payoff is that you only have to do it once . . . the system handles sending out your messages to the proper person at the pre-appointed time.

By the way, you can have custom “fields” included in your messages so that they appear to be personalized to each recipient if you gather such details as part of your mailing list subscriber-volunteered information.

Autoresponder scripts range from the very simple to very complex. You can find some online for free or at modest cost . . . others are very pricey (like $750) depending upon the features and emailing speed and capacity you decide you need.

There are also many online application providers that will take care of all the mailing and set up for you for a fee (generally around $20/month for a limited number of email messages.)

There are some advantages to this alternative since the cost to get started is reasonable and you don’t have to worry about your ISP getting upset with your heavy mailing schedule that hogs his bandwidth resources.

In addition, autoresponder email companies work very hard to make sure that their emails are not black listed and are deliverable, something that you may struggle with using your own server and script.

The uses and creative applications of autoresponders are many and quite varied.

But in every case, the result is that you are able to perform otherwise laborious and time-consuming tasks by setting up a system that does most of the work for you.

It’s as if you hired some full time customer service employees that never expect to be paid.

In a lot of online business situations, email is the lifeline between you and your customers and suppliers.

You don’t have face-to-face contact and you may never converse over the phone.

Since your emails are so important, so critical to your communication with both customers and vendors in the business world, it is very smart to pay particular attention to both the substance and presentation of your emails.

All of us get in the habit of becoming lax in the business “chores” that are commonplace and routine. Email is no different.

If you don’t make a conscious effort to watch what you’re doing, you may open yourself up to critical errors, costly mistakes, fouled up orders, or at the very least, being grossly misunderstood in your communication.

I liken sloppy and haphazard emailing to serving a bowl of soup to your guest and realizing that there are several nasty looking flies floating around on the surface inside the bowl.

All of a sudden, the whole meal becomes a lot less appetizing and your guest will probably go elsewhere to dine.

Certainly mistakes and foul-ups happen regularly in business; but sloppiness and errors that could have been easily fixed ahead of time will tend to brand your business as unprofessional, and uncaring (since you didn’t even check your message before you sent it.)

Who wants to deal with a business that could conceivably be sloppy and nonchalant about its products, customer service, handling of your credit card information, or on-time delivery?

Here are the most common mistakes I’ve seen in business email messages that could easily have been avoided had the sender taken a little extra time to think about and compose the message and check it over before sending:

1. The email doesn’t identify the sender.

Some businesses will not even open emails they can’t identify.

With all the spam and security issues that abound on the Internet today, it’s no wonder only a fraction of the emails sent ever get opened.

Also, it would be good for your company to decide upon a particular name that you consistently use in the “From” field on all your communications.

Your customers will learn to recognize and watch for that name and may even “white list” your company for future communications if you ask them.

2. The subject line needs to be completed, be highly descriptive of the message’s content, and should be interesting.

A lot of spammers choose not to use a subject line in hopes of tricking the reader into opening the message just to see what it’s about.

So don’t give your email the appearance of spam – you should do everything you can to make the choice to open the email a safe one for the receiver.

3. The graphics (if HTML email) should load and be displayed quickly.

Use small graphics files and web safe colors if possible.

Constantly watch to see that you don’t send broken links.

Usually problems result when a business fails to review and test an email prior to sending it out.

4. Have you checked the message to see that it has a logical flow and a precise “call to action” or outcome that is clearly stated?

Often the best emails are the ones that are straightforward, simply stated, and tell your customers or vendors exactly the action you are hoping to have them complete.

5. Have you correctly listed your contact information?

An important part of the call to action is to provide the details of how you’d like the receiver to make contact or follow up with you.

Email addresses are unforgiving – if you make just one little mistake, you will probably not receive the follow-up action or information you’re hoping to get.

6. Have you properly formatted the message and proofread it for spelling, grammatical and content errors?

Sure, it takes a little extra time to check your work and be sure that it’s presentable.

It may even be worth your while to have someone else review your work – a fresh set of eyes will catch a lot of errors that you won’t.

7. Sometimes business emails get lost in the shuffle of corporate bureaucracy.

It’s not so much a problem if you’re communicating with another small business, but often you might need to communicate with a large supplier, service provider, or government agency.

Make sure you have the proper person and address before you send your email.

Forwarded or printed and delivered emails have a curious habit of turning up “missing in action” and you may never know what really happened to your message.

There are other things to watch in your email sending or replying.

In most cases, you will be happy with your emails if you make the effort to pay attention to the little details and check your message over prior to hitting the “SEND” button.